Server Performance

Calego

Might as well make a thread about it rather than just private messaging eachother so much.

It's pretty terrible right now.

I mean like really terrible.

I do not own a server machine, I rent a 20 slot server from BlueFang Solutions. I thought things were going really well, until suddenly they weren't.

I don't understand it but it seems like NS2's dedicated server software uses more resources than it takes to run the game decently. I'm no expert but shouldn't it be the other way around?

I really don't care about much of anything at this point except that server performance gets better. At least to the point where I don't have to own a machine to run a server.

SupaFred

I run servers on my own hardware and I haven't noticed any difference. Perhaps you should check with Bluefang?

ATF

Supa you have enough headroom to barely notice the latest decrease.

Even the CDT admits it as they just look at facts.

The ones that are severely affected by the last builds are the rented servers. Most run on Xeons; They simply don't cut it anymore even for a 20 slot server. 8-X

We, of course, also have to pull a rabbit out of a hat every time. The CDT-Wooza collaboration is already working on finding out the cause. We're determined.
Regrettably, we're the only ones.
If you run a server, please engage in performance discussions, record performance logs, share hardware specs and what generally works for you.

As for the overall performance drops over the last 20ish builds (with 267 being exceptionally bad), those are indeed worrisome as they have already put half the server landscape under stress.

Obraxis

ATF wrote: »

Supa you have enough headroom to barely notice the latest decrease.

Even the CDT admits it as they just look at facts.

The ones that are severely affected by the last builds are the rented servers. Most run on Xeons; They simply don't cut it anymore even for a 20 slot server. 8-X

We, of course, also have to pull a rabbit out of a hat every time. The CDT-Wooza collaboration is already working on finding out the cause. We're determined.
Regrettably, we're the only ones.
If you run a server, please engage in performance discussions, record performance logs, share hardware specs and what generally works for you.

As for the overall performance drops over the last 20ish builds (with 267 being exceptionally bad), those are indeed worrisome as they have already put half the server landscape under stress.

Just as a FYI, the CDT have got reports from server admins of both increase and decrease of performance in build 270. There is no consensus. As a server admin myself I have not seen any performance dip or increase on YO's servers.

There is no official CDT-Wooza collaboration, we do not give preference to any server. However, one or 2 CDT members have been trying to help out where possible due to your server's 'special' needs.

ATF

Well, there is now, precisely BECAUSE it is not a preference.
Dare denying there are benefits for both sides. [-X

ATF

This collaboration will eliminate all server crashes !
We're at 3/5 currently, with the latest not having made it to 270.

Just because barely any server ops report them doesn't mean they don't exist!

Our server is the NS2 communities best chance at catching those bugs with manageable effort.

We are glad to have your backing and appreciation.

ATF

Obraxis wrote: »

Just as a FYI, the CDT have got reports from server admins of both increase and decrease of performance in build 270. There is no consensus. As a server admin myself I have not seen any performance dip or increase on YO's servers.

Good news and further indication that the 270 build is not too bad, server performance wise. Calego also had issues before, for above mentioned reasons.

The current performance change (lets call it that) is minimal, however we're spotting often occurring very short term dips (less than a second) that weren't there in 269.

Since 270 already includes one tiny (2%-ish) performance improvement stemming from the collaboration, It's at least not what we expected to see.

ATF

ATF wrote: »

..., however we're spotting often occurring very short term dips (less than a second) that weren't there in 269.

Turns out matso (read: "ultimate badass") already found out what is likely causing those from looking at yesterdays plogs; Fsfod has a report.
The new LuaJIT version used in 270 may require some fine tuning.

This is just a side job while matso is rounding up work on making the SnapshotWriter part of the engine multicore compatible, giving the CPU significantly more air to breathe when dealing with 20+ players.
Again, resulting from and tested on the 42 slot server. Expect it in 271.

ZEROibis

Well the only thing I can think of would have been the changed recently is to the latest LUA version.

I do want to point out that I feel the code for the bio splash dmg should have a look at. I can say that when there is mas bio there is mucho lago on the server side.

ATF

Just spent the evening/night tuning LuaJIT trace buffers, on our server. Thanks to everyone helping push it to the limit. Turns out there really is an issue with build 270 defaults.

There's also a surprise find (performance boost) in our data which is not yet reported here relating to steam updates in ns2ds (Thanks, matso!).